THE QUAILS OF CALIFORNIA. 



By T. S. Van Dtkb, 



Autlior of " Tlie Still Hunter," "The Rifle, Rod, and Gun in California," 



"Southern Oalifornia," etc. 



HERE is probably no other game 

 bird that flourishes under so many - 

 varied conditions as the valley 

 quail of California, and wherever 

 found, he seems to get more posi- 

 tive satisfaction out of existence 

 than any other bird. Though more abun- 

 dant near sea-le^el, he is equally at home at an eleva- 

 tion of a mile or more above it; drinks plenty of water 

 or goes without it with apparently equal ease, and seems 

 quite as happy in the glare of the sunlit plain as in the 

 cool arbors of wild rose, sycamore, and wild grape that 

 form dense shades along the creek bottom. Alike to him 

 are the settler's garden and the lofty hill-top miles away 

 from sight or sound of man; and though he can never be 

 satiated with raisin-grapes or strawberries, he will keep 

 quite as fat and cheerful upon scanty picking of dry 

 grass-seed upon the stoniest hill-side. 



Few of our game birds are so eternally busy as this 

 quail. He hardly ever rests except at night, never looks sad 

 or bored, never sits around with ruffled feathers or droop- 

 ing head, but wears always either a decided business air 

 or a sublime look of contentment. He lacks the modest, 

 retiring ways that make Bob White so hard to find, even 

 with a good dog, but rather courts inspection — comes 



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